Homeless man who shot toward Eugene police officer gets 10 years

Tuesday

A Eugene homeless man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for robbing a convenience store clerk and then firing a weapon while being chased by Eugene police.

Eric Allen Dobbs, 54, was found guilty of first-degree robbery with a firearm and unlawful use of a weapon, during a stipulated facts trial in which he declined to contest the allegations.

A prosecutor said in court that DNA evidence pointed to Dobbs as being the masked robber who pulled a revolver on a 7-Eleven clerk and the ordered the employee into a utility room inside the store in the 500 block of East Broadway, on the night of March 6, 2017.

The robber fired one gunshot into the utility room before fleeing the store with a crate full of cigarettes, Lane County Assistant District Attorney Erik Hasselman said.

Eugene police officer Aron Lindsay was in the area at the time and gave chase after seeing the robber with the crate, Hasselman said.

Lindsay still was in pursuit when the robber fired four gunshots in the area of the Hub student-housing complex, the prosecutor said.

Officers did not track down Dobbs that night but arrested him days later after finding him inside a nearby storage unit where he had been staying. The gun used in the robbery also was found in the unit, Hasselman said.

A grand jury last year returned a five-count indictment charging Dobbs with crimes that included attempted aggravated murder, for allegedly trying to kill Lindsay.

But in an agreement with the defense, Hasselman agreed to reduce the attempted murder count to a lesser charge of unlawful use of a weapon.

Charges of first-degree kidnapping, methamphetamine possession and being a felon in possession of a firearm were dismissed in the agreement.

Neither Lindsay nor the store clerk attended Dobbs' sentencing hearing. Hasselman said both "were happy to hear the defendant would be sentenced to a lengthy term of incarceration for his behavior that day."

Defense lawyer Andrew Ross acknowledged in court that the state had "overwhelming evidence of guilt" but asserted Dobbs "does not know he committed the crimes."

Dobbs, meanwhile, told Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché that the gun used in the crimes belonged to a man who had tried to rob him, and that he "never robbed anybody in my life."

Ross said Dobbs had been shot at one day before the 7-Eleven robbery and had reached out to police for help, to no avail.

After listening to Ross and Dobbs, Zennaché pointed out that Dobbs' DNA was found on several items collected as evidence in the case and mentioned that the robber had shot toward Lindsay.

"You were ready to kill someone over a carton of cigarettes," Zennaché told Dobbs. "Really?"

Dobbs is required to serve every day of the 7½ years he received on the robbery charge, under state Measure 11 guidelines. He will be eligible to get time off for good behavior in prison on the remaining 30 months of the sentence, and will receive credit for the 15 months he has served in the Lane County Jail since his arrest.